Russia pulls out troops after Ukraine encircles key city
Russia’s defence ministry says outnumbered troops were withdrawn from Lyman to more favourable positions; Moscow accused of ‘kidnapping’ head of Ukraine’s N-plant
Ater being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out on Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a frontline hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has angered the Kremlin.
Russia’s withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine — an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now claims as its own.
The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the batlefield — which he frames as a Us-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia — Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-western rhetoric to date.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in batling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favourable positions. Kyiv’s air force said it moved into Lyman, and the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the town’s outskirts.
Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometres southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, it is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk region, both of which Russia annexed on Friday ater a local “referendum” was held.
Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.
Moscow’s withdrawal from Lyman prompted immediate criticism from some Russian officials.
The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed the retreat, without evidence, on one general being “covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff.” He called for “more drastic measures.”
Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen from a distance by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield and ammunition that was reportedly on board caught fire.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law.
Russian bombardments have intensified in recent days as Moscow moved switly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilisation at home to bolster its forces. The Russian call-up has proven unpopular at home, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate the regions Putin claimed to have annexed on Friday, and other Russian-occupied areas.
Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.
The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an atack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He called it “cruelty that can’t be justified.” He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.
“The Russians fired at civilians almost at pointblank range,” Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said on Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant’s security.
The alleged kidnapping on Friday apparently took place shortly ater Putin escalated his war in Ukraine and pushed it into a new, dangerous phase by annexing four Ukrainian regions that Moscow fully or partially controls and heightening threats of nuclear force.
In a possible atempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4pm on Friday, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.